Site of the Rabaa Massacre

On 14 August 2013, Egyptian police and armed forces, under the command of then-Defense Minister Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, used lethal force to clear two camps of protesters in Cairo. For six weeks, the sites at Rabaa al-Adawiya Square and al-Nahda Square had been occupied by supporters of President Mohamed Morsi, who had been overthrown by a military coup the prior month. Initiatives to end the sit-ins by peaceful means had failed, and the camps were cleared out within hours.

Human Rights Watch described the dispersals as crimes against humanity, calling them one of the world's largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history. While several world leaders denounced the deadly violence, the sit-in was coupled with widespread violent acts of retaliation by Islamist groups targeting government security personnel and churches. The interim government declared a three-month state of emergency and enforced curfews in many cities.

The encampments became flash points for bloody confrontations among pro-Morsi, anti-Morsi demonstrators, and security forces. Authorities viewed the camps as a threat to national security and a hindrance to restoring civilian democracy. Although the Interior Ministry planned to disperse the sit-ins gradually starting 12 August using water cannons and tear gas, thousands of protesters flooded into the camps to fortify them with sandbags, tires, and brick barriers.

During the dispersal, Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad alleged that police snipers fired from surrounding rooftops, while protesters claimed snipers targeted those trying to flee. Initial reports from the Egyptian Health Ministry stated that 235 protesters, three journalists, and 43 policemen died in the violence, with more than 2,000 injured. The violence spread across the country, leading to attacks on police stations and the burning of several Coptic Christian churches.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons